NILES, Illinois (LifeSiteNews) — A group of faithful Catholics is hosting its inaugural rally to promote rosary processions across America to “bring prayer back into the family.”
On October 20, Family Rosary Rallies will host their first rosary rally at Notre Dame College Prep High School Stadium in Niles, Illinois, as part of an initiative to pray the rosary at high schools across America.
“The Family Rosary Rallies mission is to honor the legacy of Venerable Patrick Peyton and to continue his mission of bringing prayer into the family home, especially the rosary,” Family Rosary Rallies organizer Christiane Flood told LifeSiteNews.
The Family Rosary Rallies has teamed up with Holy Cross Ministries to follow the example of the aforementioned Fr. Peyton, a late Irish priest who rallied thousands of Americans to pray the Rosary in stadiums across the country.
Fr. Peyton is famous for coining the phrase “the family that prays together, stays together,” as he promoted the rosary as a source of unity for both families and the country.
The event, which will be filmed by Spirit Juice Production, aims to unite all local Catholic high schools in prayer, to demonstrate that while “they may compete on the field, or academically they are united in their faith.”
“There’s a lot of the Catholic high schools that are Catholic and name only, and so by doing it through the high schools, we’re reaching a lot of kids and families that don’t pray anymore, they maybe don’t even go to Mass anymore, and there may be kids in the high school that don’t even have a faith,” Flood explained.
“In a lot of the Catholic schools, the student body isn’t entirely Catholic,” she continued. “It’s reaching way more people, and so we’re inviting again all the parishes around the high school, the community.
Cole Kmet, a captain and tight end for the NFL’s Chicago Bears will be leading one of the decades of the rosary, with a football player representing each high school joining him.
After the rosary, the procession will feature Gregorian chant by seminarians of the University of St. Mary of the Lake.
At the rally, students will be given a postcard and asked to make a spiritual pledge to pray for someone in their lives.
Beyond the Illinois event, Family Rosary Rallies is aiming for hundreds of rosary rallies to occur in high schools across the nation, encouraging Americans to take up their rosaries and plead for the intercession of Our Blessed Mother.